Monday, August 31, 2009

The world’s largest book has been commissioned for the world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai. The book, which will chronicle the construction of the Burj, will be 16ft tall and made of some of the world’s finest silk-threaded paper. It will first tour 15 cities around the world before becoming a centrepiece in the Burj and will tell the stories of over 100 people who worked on the tower.

The tome, which will cost more than dhs5.25 million has been commissioned from Kraken Opus, a UK-based company that specalises in manufacturing high-quality outsized books. The company previously completed a giant book on the history of Manchester United football club that was recently sold at auction for over £1 million (dhs5.25 million). Chief Executive Karl Fowler said that book would be accompanied by a print run of 750,000 giant books with covers measuring half a sqm. The paper will be threaded with silk, which helps the print and photo quality and the binding will be hand-stitched so that 98 per cent of the page surface can be seen by turning the page. “With cheaper binds, the book is bound so tightly that you have to press the page down to read the print. We use the best materials because it makes reading more pleasurable,” Fowler said.

The giant book’s pages will be turned using a giant paddle. Fowler said that the money spent on the project was justified, even during the economic downturn. “Some of Hollywood’s most lavish, expensive films were made during the Great Depression. People need escape. We’re not making the book just for the here and now, we’re making it so that it can be read 50 years from now.” The book will be released shortly after the Burj opens later this year.